This Week!

A totally new 16” MacBook Pro; a new 6K cinema display; new Mac Pro; new AirPods; new iPads and iPhones; even a new iPod Touch… according to a new report, Apple’s about to make huge updates to their ENTIRE product line.

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Notes and Links:

Ming-Chi Kuo’s new research report runs down some of his hardware expectations for the coming year, and my nips have been at 105% of capacity since reading it.

We’re talking redesigned MacBook Pro, iPads, a new Apple cinema display, AirPods, even a new iPOD... this could be a year to remember.

Kuo predicts 2019 will see the release of Apple’s biggest MacBook since 2012. The new MacBook Pro will boast a screen between 16 inches and 16.5 inches in size. This would be the largest MacBook notebook screen since the end of the 17-inch models seven years ago.

It will be a total redesign!

Kuo says the 13” will possibly get an option for 32GB of RAM.

Dave Lee theory - the new design will have to address thermal issues.

Current MBP design is too thin for modern chips. It can’t keep them cool, like with the current i9 throttling. Now intel has a new 9th-gen 8 core chip, and there’s no way the current design could handle it.

The iPad mini hasn’t gotten a sequel since 2015. However, if you’re expecting this year’s rumored refresh to be a massive leap forward, you might want to think again.

At least, that’s based on an alleged CAD render shared by noted leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer, a.k.a. @OnLeaks. While he hasn’t shared the image, he suggests that there are no external major design changes — and only a spec bump update.

Apple may finally give fans a first look at its revamped Mac Pro at WWDC 2019.

Bloomberg is reporting that Apple has “internally weighed” the possibility of previewing the new Mac Pro alongside updates to macOS and iOS at this year’s WWDC, which is expected to take place between June 3 and June 7 in San Jose.

Apple has also put together a "Pro Workflow Team" to tailor the Mac Pro and other Apple products to its professional users.

The timing seems right. Speaking about the Mac Pro in 2017, Phil Schiller said this:

With regards to the Mac Pro, we are in the process of what we call "completely rethinking the Mac Pro." We’re working on it. We have a team working hard on it right now, and we want to architect it so that we can keep it fresh with regular improvements, and we’re committed to making it our highest-end, high-throughput desktop system, designed for our demanding pro customers.

As part of doing a new Mac Pro — it is, by definition, a modular system — we will be doing a pro display as well. Now you won’t see any of those products this year; we’re in the process of that. We think it’s really important to create something great for our pro customers who want a Mac Pro modular system, and that’ll take longer than this year to do.